For the first time in months, the Hartford Parking Authority has a full complement of five members.

The appointments of Rex Fowler, Jose Rene Martinez Onofre and William R. Breetz were confirmed by the city council earlier this week. They were sworn in Thursday.

"We're certainly pleased we have a full complement of commissioners, and we'll continue with our work as planned," Mark McGovern, the parking authority's chief operating officer, said Thursday.

Two members, Richard Twilley and Albert Barrueco, both lawyers, left the authority in June, and James Thompson, formerly the city's assistant superintendent of elementary education, resigned in November.

The authority had been operating since then with only two members, Chairwoman Patricia LeShane, chief operating officer of the Hartford-based Sullivan & LeShane lobbying firm, and Kenneth Lerman, a corporate lawyer.

The lack of members prompted Connecticut Parking Services Inc. to sue the authority last month, claiming that all decisions made without a quorum were invalid. The suit came nearly a month after the authority did not renew a contract with the company. Prior to Dec. 9, Connecticut Parking Services operated the M&T parking lot at 1214-1218 Main St.

Connecticut Parking Services asserted that the authority's decision to end its contract with the company was made by only two members. Hartford's municipal code mandates that there must be five members on the panel and a majority of at least three present to vote on an issue.

But McGovern said there was no vote on the issue.

"The contract with Connecticut Parking Services expired by its own terms," he said. "No action was taken related to that contract."

Mayor Pedro Segarra nominated Fowler, executive director of the Hartford Community Loan Fund; Onofre, an assistant state attorney general; and Breetz, a lawyer with the Farmington-based Levy & Droney law firm; to the authority last month.

Reprinted with permission of the Hartford Courant.
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